Part 2;

It was a shriek that cut deep into Tony's chest causing his heart to thump so hard it was as though it was trying desperately to free itself from his body. It was the same shriek that tore Mark from his sleep like he was attached to a mighty chain that suddenly began moving as if pulled by a giant. As the sound reached Wes he rolled onto his back off his cardboard mattress, his arms instinctively reaching into the air to block an attacker.

Tony seemed to fly back into the lounge his feet running so fast that they barely touched the ground. Once he was back in the room he skidded to a halt, his face twisting in fear at the sight before him. Wes began scurrying backwards across the floor away from the sight that would forever haunt them after that day for standing in the middle of the room in front of Emma was the Angel in its statue form. It's back was hinged forwards with its wings raised into the air and it's arms were outstretched reaching for its victim's neck around which its stone hands were now clasped tightly. But Emma had not vanished like the others. She was still here and she was very much alive. She was still on the floor barely able to breath her hands trying in vain to release the Angel's grip on her throat.

"Jesus Christ!" gasped Mark who had fallen off the wicker chair and was now on his hands and knees looking up at the Devilish sight.

"H-Help," pleaded Emma barely able to catch enough breath to speak. Her eyes screamed in the direction of Tony standing by the door to the lounge.

"Keep your eyes on it!" barked Tony. "As long as you are looking at it it cant hurt you."

"I-I don't...want to," she said in a terrified whisper.

"You have to," said Mark.

"Emma do it!" ordered Wes. "Do it now. We'll keep looking at it with you ok but if we are going to figure out a way of getting you free you have to look at it."

"I can't," she silently shrieked and began to sob uncontrollably, her eyes closing as if it would somehow make the Angel go away.

"No!" yelled the three men who began begging her to open them again but to no avail. Fear now dominated every cell in her body. She had no control over her facets and who could blame her.

Seeing their pleas were proving fruitless, Wes suddenly struck upon an idea. "Ssshhhh!" He got up off the floor holding his hands out to silence Tony and Mark. "Make sure you keep your eyes on it."

"Ok," said Tony and Mark one after the other.

Wes crawled slowly along the floor towards Emma and her Angel captor, an act that took enormous courage on his part to do for moving towards that thing seemed to be contradictory to every natural survival instinct in his body but he knew he had to do it for her sake. He reached Emma and slowly sat beside her before cautiously leaning forwards to whisper in her ear, "It's a movie. It's just another movie. Emma listen to me. I want you to start acting. Forget Emma, you're not her now. You're name is...is...Alice. And right now you are in wonderland. Alice is brave and right now Alice needs to access that bravery. Come on Alice, look at it. It's just a statue. Look!"

Mark seemed to have stopped breathing as he watched Wes trying to get Emma into the frame of mind of an actor to help her. He cautiously started to get up onto his feet trying to keep both Emma and the Angel in his field of view at all times all the while silently praying that what Wes was trying to do would eventually work. Her eyelids flickered. It made Mark jump slightly as he got excited that it was working. Soon the flickering turned to rapid blinking and then her eyes opened. It took a few moments for her to get used to the sight of the creature in front of her but she was now looking at it. Wes' words had managed to separate her mind from her body for just a few seconds but it was enough to help her face her enemy.

Wes looked at Tony with relief on his face. Tony nodded back at him indicating that he was both impressed with how Wes had handled the situation and relieved that Emma was now looking at the Angel. The more eyes on it the better. For now, Emma was safe but their victory was short lived for they now had to confront the problem of how to release the Angel's grip on her.

Before they could start to discuss the seemingly impossible problem however they heard Emma trying to say something. Wes leaned in close so that she could whisper it into his ear.

"It's smiling at me."

Wes looked up at the face of the Angel, his eyes using the creature's arms as a path until he found himself looking straight at the evil creature. Like the others he had seen its face in various forms ranging from completely indifferent like any real statue to the grotesque and hideous face with fangs when it is about to attack. This was a new face however. The face was almost expressionless except that the corner of its lip was curved upwards in an arrogant, almost sadistic fashion taunting its unfortunate victim.

"So what do we do?" asked Tony. "Sledgehammer? Try and break its arms off."

Mark disagreed, "The book said it cant be destroyed when its like this."

"Can't we try and pry the hands off her neck?" said Wes.

"That's solid stone," murmured Tony not needing to say anymore.

"So what do we do?"

"We got to make it move," said Mark.

"But how?" asked Wes who had now put a comforting arm around Emma's shoulder. "The only way it will move is if we don't look at it."

"Exactly," said Mark who shared a glance with Tony. In that moment the two of them knew what had to be done. Wes quickly picked up on it.

"If we do that it will kill her," he said matter-of-factly.

"Wes," said Tony, "it's the only way we will get it off her."

"We have to try and distract it away from Emma somehow," said Mark. "Just for a split second."

"A split second!" quoted Wes. "Do you have any idea how fast this thing can move in a split second?"

Mark and Tony ignored the question. They had all learned just how fast the Angel was over the past thirty nine hours and they understood what Wes was getting at. He was trying to emphasize to everyone the enormity of the task at hand.

"So what do we do to stop it when we close our eyes?" asked Mark.

"Wes; you got some rope in your truck right?" asked Tony.

"Yeah."

"Ok then this is what we will do. We will tie rope around its wrists and stand either side of it pulling on the rope so that when we close our eyes and it can move again its hands will come apart and it will let go of Emma."

"We'll be taking a big risk there, Tony," said Mark.

"I don't think we have a choice, mate," replied Tony opening his palms signalling that he welcomed another option.

"Alright," said Mark turning to Wes. "You stay here with Emma, mate. We will go and get the rope."

"No," said Tony. "You should stay here too, Mark. Keep as many eyes on it as possible. I will go and get and the rope."

"Ok," said Mark.

For the first time since the Angel appeared Tony took his eyes off it. He had been so transfixed by it that it was almost as if his eyes were physically attached to it and it took a real effort to pull them away. Once he had turned his back to them he rushed outside to get the rope from the back of Wes' truck. The rain was still coming down hard outside and when he returned a few minutes later he was quite wet but he had the rope in his hands. Wes kept one length of rope in the back of his truck for towing should the need arise and this meant he had to cut it in half using a screwdriver he found in the glovebox to stab it in the middle. That way they would have two; one for each of the Angel's hands.

Tony handed one to Mark while he kept the other. Tony walked up to the Angel's left hand while Mark took the Angel's right, Wes having to move to let him tie the rope on tight around the stone wrist. As Wes began to move however Emma reached out for his hand. Wes took it and held it tightly like a loving further comforting his frightened daughter.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said to her. "I'm going to be right here." His words seemed to comfort her if only slightly.

"Tie it tight," Mark said to Tony who was working on the opposite side of the Angel. "We only get one shot at this."

"I know," said Tony sighing trying to relieve his nerves a little. They all knew what was at stake. He tugged on his rope testing how strong the knot was. Mark did the same. "Ok I'm ready."

"Me too," said Mark who now started to feel that if this didn't work he would blame himself for his part in it all.

A flash of lightning filled the room as the storm that was brewing outside finally materialized. Soon the house was rocked by a loud clasp of thunder. The lightning exacerbated the twisted pleasure the Angel seemed to take from his attack on Emma.

"Ok, let's do it," said Tony.

The cool that Emma had achieved given the circumstances was beginning to subside. The thought ran through her mind that in just a few seconds she could be dead or disappear like the others the Angel had claimed. She began to wriggle and her breathing quickened as she tried to swallow in buckets of air through her restricted neck. She wanted to cry but couldn't manage it. Wes quickly moved in close to her and put his arm back around her reassuring her that whatever happened he was not going to leave.

Mark and Tony stepped away from the Angel and began tightening up their respective ropes, taking in the slack until the lines were solid. They both tugged the rope one more time to check that they had no more slack in the rope whatsoever and as a final test of the knots they had done. From opposite sides of the room they looked at each other and silently signaled that they were ready to go.

"Alright on three," said Mark.

Emma tried to speak and Wes leaned in again so he could hear her. With almost no sound she asked him, "Cover my eyes for me."

"Ok," he said softly and he curved the arm he had around her shoulders inwards until his palm covered her eyes completely.

The air turned thick at that point. It was not only Emma who was struggling to breath now. The weight of responsibility on their shoulders was now strangling the three men like the Angel's hands around Emma's throat.

"One," said Mark.

Tony's heart began its mad drumming once more. He felt sick with fear.

"Two," continued Mark after what felt like ten years in between. "Three!"

Their eyes shut.

Tony suddenly found himself being thrown forwards towards the Angel before slamming into the back of the statue landing hard between its wings. The room filled with the sound of a young woman breathing rapidly trying to fill her lungs with as much air as possible, the sound of relief evident in her voice. The plan had indeed worked. As soon as the Angel had reanimated its hands were pulled off Emma's throat but it had quickly retaliated and it had launched itself at Mark, it's face now the twisted and fierce image that had been at the forefront of their minds for the past two days. Having been pulling on the rope at the time they closed their eyes and with the Angel turning towards him Mark's rope had gone slack quite quickly causing him to go stumbling back towards the wall. He now stood leaning against the wall and facing his attacker who was barely inches away locked inside its own solidified body.

Their eyes had been closed for barely a hundredth of a second.